The present invention relates to sheet feeding devices, such as large capacity cassettes (hereinafter merely referred to as LCCs), adapted, for use with sheet processing apparatus such as image forming apparatus, to store therein a large number of sheets to be fed into the apparatus.
Conventionally, sheet feeding devices are placed beside sheet processing apparatus and store therein sheets of a size that is most frequently used in the apparatus. FIG. 1 is a schematic front cross-sectional view of a conventional sheet feeding device 200 as disclosed in JP H05-193766. The device 200 has a housing 201, and casters 202 and 203 for supporting the housing 201. The casters 202 and 203 are mounted on a bottom surface of the housing 201.
The device 200 has an engaging member 204 on a side surface close to a sheet processing apparatus 300. When the device 200 is to be placed beside the apparatus 300, the device 200 is lifted on a side close to the apparatus 100, and the engaging member 204 is brought into engagement with an engaging member 301 provided on the apparatus 300 so that a sheet output slit 205 provided in the device 200 is rendered level with a sheet receiving section 302 provided in the apparatus 300. At the time, the caster 202, which is positioned closer to the apparatus 300, is lifted by 3 mm to 5 mm from the floor.
The caster 203, which is positioned farther from the apparatus 300, is rendered adjustable in height by an adjustment screw or the like. After placement of the device 200 beside the apparatus 300, the caster 203 is adjusted in height so that the device 200 is leveled.
Even after leveling of the device 200, however, the caster 202 remains lifted from the floor.
When the apparatus 300 and the device 200 are activated with the caster 202 off the floor, vibration of the apparatus 300 is more likely to be transmitted to the device 200, resulting in a higher frequency of sheet feeding error or sheet transporting error in the device 200.
In light of the foregoing, a feature of the invention is to provide a sheet feeding device that prevents vibration transmission, thereby allowing a reduced frequency of sheet feeding error or sheet transport error.